From the outset, the propaganda is on the defensive, protesting that
"good relations" will be built and that "Heh! we arrested someone for
abuse. See we care!"
The prisons, and additional judges [judge not, lest ye be judged] are
ready and waiting ... and so are the guards. After all, as President
Bush said, we can do anything in defense of our system.
At Fallujah, they detained all young men from 14 through 55. Well,
actually they killed as many as they could. Hopefully it will be more
selective here. Of course, some 12-year-olds look 14 and some
60-year-olds may look 50, although after the U.S./U.K. sanctions it is
more likely that 14-year-olds look 10 and 55-year-olds look 70.
How successful will this operation be? The population of Baghdad is 1/4
to 1/5 smaller than that of New York City. NYC has 40,000 cops with an
experienced leadership. Prediction: any success will be temporary and
some of these governmental forces will be decimated.
Brian Shannon
__________________
May 26, 2005
Iraqi Leaders Announce Major Effort to Curb Insurgents
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 26 - The new Iraqi government announced sweeping
measures today to clamp down on insurgents in Baghdad and the rest of
the country, saying it would deploy 40,000 Iraqi troops in the capital
over the next week.
In the operation, soldiers and security forces will set up 600
checkpoints around Baghdad, some of them mobile, and will check the
identification of Iraqis in neighborhoods and hotels.
The announcement came on a day that saw at least nine more people
killed in a suicide bombing and shootings in the capital.
The operation, which will divide Baghdad into seven areas, will also
include raids on suspected insurgent hideouts.
"There is no timeline - the timeline is to defeat terrorists," Defense
Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi said at a news conference with the interior
minister, Bayan Jabor.
"There is no place for terrorists in this country," Mr. Dulaimi said.
In a brief reference to the most wanted militant in Iraq, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, the ministers said they had information that he had been
injured, but offered no other details. Their comment followed similar
information posted on an Islamic Web site on Wednesday.
Mr. Dulaimi said that a blockade will be imposed around the capital,
"like a bracelet around an arm, God willing," adding, "No one will be
able to penetrate this blockade."
The operation will continue in the rest of the country for several
weeks, the ministers said.
The ministers also cautioned that any arrests would be well-planned and
not reckless.
Iraq will not "achieve security at the expense of human dignity," Mr.
Dulaimi said, adding that the government wished "to build good
relations with people."
The Iraqi Army has sometimes been criticized as being heavy-handed in
its arrests. In a response, the ministers said today that one of the
police chiefs in a major crime unit had recently been expelled for
abusing detainees.
Mr. Dulaimi, who is from the city of Ramadi in the troubled Anbar
Province, said that troops had been working hard to maintain security
recently, saying that more than 150 car bombs had been defused and that
578 people who they identified as terrorists had been detained,
including foreign fighters.
"The goal is not to secure the government, but to secure the people,"
Mr. Dulaimi said.
The minister of the interior said that anyone detained would have "a
just and a fair trial." He said additional judges had been brought in
to be ready to process detainees.
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